Day 10: A Rainy Day in Oslo
Tony and I woke up bright, early, and ready for that insane breakfast. We hit the little gym at the hotel, and got downstairs in time for Tony to eat before heading out for Day 2 of the workshop. I managed to sneak a little photo of breakfast:
Afterward, Tony headed out, and I got ready for the day. It’s rainy and kind of gross, so I tried to dress accordingly.
First, I made a game plane with one of the front desk girls, which involves looking at a map and torturing the front desk girl, because I am the most direction challenged person to walk the earth. So I terrorized this young, gorgeous blonde over the map and made her draw lines with arrows and tell me things three times, and right before she was ready to lose her Scandinavian cool, I thanked her and headed out.
Here is a plan for the day:
I set out for the National Gallery first, stopping to check out the National Theatre:
The doors opened at 11:00am and the collection was small, but impressive. There were some Norwegian artists I had never heard of, and a few others that I knew. There was an entire room with Munch (the best-known Norse artist), and people crowded The Scream and took their picture with it like it was the Mona Lisa.
My favorite was called September, by Erik Werenskiold (1883)
I got myself a few postcards and started the long walk to the Botanical Gardens.
I made my way though a different part of town that seemed more every-day than touristy, and could easily tell I was approaching the Botanical Gardens, as runners, strollers, and happy off-leash dogs started to lead the way.
The National History Museum lives inside the Botanical Gardens. I did not visit that museum today, but did check out the Gardens. Have a look:
The Munch Museum was… well… different.
The idea is to change the exhibit regularly by comparing and contrasting Munch’s work to another artist’s.
Currently, the artist of comparison was Robert Mapplethorpe.
Mapplethorpe is… well… a colorful person, to say the least. I don’t mean his works – they’re mostly black and white photographs – I mean him.
Please Google Mapplethorpe if you get the chance. I’m not sure the American version of Google will have his pictures available to view, but just know that he was mainly interested in (male) sexuality, sexual identity, and nudes.
One thing I loved was to see all the families, young, old, conservative-looking and otherwise, all viewing the exhibit without embarrassment or awkwardness. (We Americans could learn a lot from Europeans). I will not include a photo with a penis here – mainly because my Grandmother (HI MEEMS!!!) might be reading this. But here’s a tame example:
I especially liked the many photos he had of this subject, Lisa Lyons (pictured above), because she was the first woman to win the International Federation of Bodybuilders World Pro Championship.
So in her day, she was considered insanely muscular and “masculine”. Today, wouldn’t you agree that she looks like your standard “fit” actress or fitness model?
Anyway, after the museum I headed back home, this way taking a different route, and making my way to Central Station in Oslo. Tony and I have a crack-o’-dawn train to catch on Tuesday morning! So I wanted to know exactly where to go while were still in Zombie mode and schlepping our luggage.
I made my way back to the hotel and enjoyed an afternoon espresso and sparkling water.
Tony made it back around 6:00pm, and we popped up to the lounge for our free-hotel dinner.
Delicious! Again, my favorite bread ever.
There are pieces of carrots and sunflower seeds and it is so heavy and chunky it barely stays together. Also there was this fresh cabbage and fennel salad and a fabulous chili that had chunks of beef and pork.
After dinner we digested a bit, and then met up with Dean and Lindsay for dessert and goodbye.
D&L head back to London tomorrow, and home on Tuesday. They’ve been great traveling companions and we’ll miss them!
We returned to the hotel just after 9:00pm and were beat. I told Tony we should go to bed, because I have a FULL itinerary planned for his one and only free day in Oslo, tomorrow!
See you then,
Lisa (and Tony)
